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Velzeke

Between the Carolingian and Ottonian periods, Velzeke was an important regional power centre and shared its history with the neighbouring Ename. The contemporary visitors can appreciate Velzeke Museum with new interactive ways for presenting the archaeological finds as well as Ottonian parts of the St. Martin Church.

Before AD 850

Landscape

Velzeke is situated in East-Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen), a northern province of Belgium, some 20km south of Gent, the provincial capital. It now forms part of the town of ­Zottegem. The undulating and fertile area of Velzeke belongs to the region of sand-loamy Flanders and is veined by many brooks which end in the nearby rivers Scheldt and Dender. Sand-limestone from tertiary strata was exploited as building material at nearby Oombergen and Balegem. From a pedological point of view the area is characterized by dry loamy soils with an argillic B-horizon. Regularly the edges of the depressions consist of ill-drained colluvial soils, whereas the brook valleys contain hydromorph alluvial soils. This is well reflected by the situation of the Gallo-Roman site of Velzeke, and two cemeteries, respectively of the Early Iron Age and of the Merovingian period, all positioned on the same strategic plateau at a height of 50-60 m above the sea-level fringed at the north and the south by two brooks (Passemarebeek and Molenbeek).1Fig. 1

Fig. 1: Situation map of Velzeke. A – Gallo-Roman settlement, B – Gallo-Roman villas; 1 – Augustan Roman fortress, 2 – Gallo-Roman cemeteries; Merovingian cemetery of Buzegem at the north-west fringe of the fortress zone; Saint Martin’s church at the south of the settlement on the contour-line of 50 m. Credit: The Provinciaal Archeologisch Museum Velzeke

The Gallo-Roman settlement stood at a junction of two important main roads: one forming the connection of the North sea with the eastern Rhine limes (Germany), this is from Boulogne to Cologne; the other forming the connection between the military installations in the northern Rhine limes (Holland) and the department capital Bavay in the south (France).2Fig. 2

This important position, enhanced by the close connection with the rivers Scheldt and Dender, explains the fortune of Velzeke as a thriving marketplace and an administrative and religious center of the Romanised Nervii. The countryside around Velzeke must have grown wheat, a well-known ‘Nervian’ product, and the discovery of several rural sites proves the landscape was exploited by a villa economy system. There can be little doubt that after the decline of the vicus, the new Germanic settlers were attracted by its situation with the deserted fertile lands and the road network remaining likely intact. The Carolingian and Ottonion area shifted to the south of the Gallo-Roman settlement, slightly lower on the contour line of 50 m, its core being the Saint Martin’s church. The actual village gradually grew around and in front of the church. The late medieval bell tower still rises as a powerful landmark remembering a glorious but vanished site of early medieval times. Fig. 3Fig. 4

Fig. 3: Aerial view from the south-west of the Gallo-Roman and medieval settlement of Velzeke. Approximately in the center the Museum and the Archaeological Park, to the right Saint Martin’s church, in front the Grey Sisters monastery. Credit: J. Semey, Ghent University, Department of Archaeology

Fig. 4: The medieval Saint Martin’s church dominates the village of Velzeke and stands as a landmark. At right the chapel of the Grey Sisters monastery; in front the south entrance to the Archaeological Museum. Credit: The Provinciaal Archeologisch Museum Velzeke

Settlement

Two cemeteries witness for a presumed protohistoric settlement at Velzeke (Bronze and early Iron Age). The late Iron Age is only represented by two gold coins (staters) of the Nervii. The Gallo-Roman site grew out from an Augustan military outpost around 10-5 BC, in the aftermath of Caesar’s conquest of Gaul.3Fig. 5

The civil settlement prospered in the 1st and 2nd centuries. It was a small urbanized center, a vicus, in the former Roman province of Gallia Belgica (capital Reims or Durocortorum, now in France), it belonged to the department of the civitas Nerviorum (capital Bavay or Bagacum, in France near the Belgian frontier), which used to be the territory of the Belgic tribe of the Nervii. The name Velzeke is almost certainly of Celtic-Latin origin and was reconstructed as Fel(i)ciacum.4 Its spatial organisation was determined by roads and parcel ditches, with timber and stone-based buildings, two sanctuaries and a road station (mansio). Fig. 6Fig. 7

Fig. 6: Situation of the Gallo-Roman settlement of Velzeke. A – the fortress, B – the oldest core of the vicus (before ca. AD 40-50), C – possible maximal later extension of the settlement, red zones – excavated areas, the road station is to the left (V KWAK-zone). Credit: The Provinciaal Archeologisch Museum Velzeke

Fig. 7: Reconstruction of the Roman road station at Velzeke, state ca. AD 170. Credit: E. Van de Geguchte

Beside products of local craftsmen, ceramic and glass finds witness for intensive regional and long distance trade.5 Especially the presence of Mediterranean amphorae for wine, olive-oil and fish sauce is remarkable.6Fig. 8

The wheat production went mainly to the army stationed at the limes. The 3rd century was an age of crisis with brigands and infiltrating Germanic war bands that struck also the region of Velzeke as shown by coin and silver hoards. The presence of a burgus (small fortress), votive gifts and weapons pointing to a military detachment prove that Velzeke had a role in the defense.Fig. 9Fig. 10 Nevertheless, the vicus came to an end in AD 265/268 during the reign of Postumus.7 There is a gab for the 4th and 5th centuries, but scant evidence from other sites in East-Flanders demonstrates a depopulated rural landscape that was opened to new settlers of Germanic origin (Frisians, Saxons and Franks), possibly at the invitation of the Romans themselves. In the late 5th and 6th century, with the collapse of the Empire, there was a new Landnahme, mainly by Franks. The Merovingian necropolis of Buzegem at the fringes of the former vicus of Velzeke reflects small family groups forming a village community led by a chieftain. Around AD 600 the social structure changed dramatically as it became clear from the organization and the grave goods in the cemeteries of Strijpen and Beerlegem.8 They belonged to new large villa domains preceding feudal estates where an elite dominated a host of free peasants, serfs and slaves. Christianisation came only up in the 7th and 8th centuries as a slow process stimulated by the abbeys of Gent, Dikkelvenne and Moorsel. Archaeological evidence and the presence of the later Ottonian installation indicate that Velzeke must have been already an important, new administrative center (fiscus) created by the Carolingian authorities.9

Partners

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The project is co-funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.